---- 31st December 2199---
People were sitting in the small local pub that was hosting a party for new year's. Laughter and singing were heard throughout the rooms. The small town called Wingdon was located just outside of the World Government's Capital and was rejoicing in the celebration. After all, it had been 10 years since the war and the establishment of the World Government.
After the years of bloodshed that occurred before the World Government was established that was still fresh in the minds of those that fought in the New World War. Countless dead, billions maimed and disfigured. Countries full of inhabitable lands awaiting for the nuclear fallout from the war to dissipate.
However, people are still healing from the physical and psychological wounds inflicted upon them. So the celebration is a welcome distraction from the chaos of the world.
Among those that fought in the war there was a man called Lucus Raven. If you were to hear this name, you would wonder who the hell he is. However if your security clearance was high enough then the only thing you would feel is fear.
Lucus was a member of a Special Forces Unit known as S.I.N or Special Intelligence Network. In short he was a spy, retrieving enemy intelligence and disseminating it to the powers of the world. The many members of S.I.N were credited with preventing the War from dragging on for an additional 5 years, due to the intelligence they obtained.
Lucus was a member of the Pathfinder Squad with the codename 'Ghost' and was known by his squad mates as 'The Ghost of Death', for wherever he walked a trail of bodies was sure to follow, while he would disappear into thin air with nothing indicating he had been there. With of course the countless bodies he left behind.
However, after the 35 year old decided to settle back into civilian life, due to the military being combined with the New World Government's forces. S.I.N retained the operational scope of its activities. However, due to the trauma that the members had experienced and the simple fact there was no need for the amount of manpower that the Unit had, the members were offered an honourable discharge. Lucus was among those that took the offer, however the majority remained behind including all of his former squad mates.
Nowadays he is often seen relaxing in the local Pub and indulging in a range of alcoholic drinks. After all, where else would you find a former British spy, except for brooding over a pint of beer.
The sound of fireworks exploding in the distance sounded, however this was simply an opening performance as there was still another 2 minutes until midnight and the turn of a century. Lucus turned his attention to the countdown on the Screen above the bar. The place was nearly abandoned as the majority had decided to watch the fireworks outside.
The countdown was now at 1 minute.
The world was jovial as the counting down began.
"60… 30… 15… 10... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
--- 1st January 2200 ---
Fireworks blasted into the sky as the turn of a new century had finally passed, many prayed for the next 100 years to be full of peace and joy.
Those prayers were ignored.
In a little over 5 minutes since people started to celebrate the new century and a rumbling was felt throughout the world. A message was then heard throughout the globe, no one knew exactly where it came from however everyone heard the same thing.
"Enter the Realms and gain untold powers."
The message was sounded in a language that not a single person in the world recognised, however they somehow understood the meaning behind it.
Silence occupied the world as everyone came to a collective standstill. Confused what was going on and what they had just heard.
Lucus of course was also confused as to what was going, however he suddenly heard yelling and shouts coming from outside. Moving outside to see what the panic was about, he was greeted by quite a sight, objects were falling from space into the atmosphere, they were like bright stars, and were just as numerous as the stars.
One of the objects was directly heading for Wingdon.
People started to panic and ran away from the area, fearing this was an act of terror by some unknown terrorist organisation, Lucus started to run as well. There was only one word to describe it, Chaos. Luckily the population of the Wingdon was currently lowered as people were gathering in the capital to celebrate the new century therefore incidents of people getting trampled were rare here.
The object that was heading for Wingdon was now only 100 metres off the ground, when it suddenly dropped the rest of the way. Causing a loud thud like noise to echo throughout the town, causing a small crater to be created around where it landed. The object was an arch-like construction, imagine if the Saint Louis Arch was reduced in size it would be in similar appearance to this construct. After the Arch had landed many people were staring at it in utter terror, many believing that it would be the last thing that they would ever see.
Lucus was wondering what the hell was happening, he initially thought the arch was a missile or warhead. However, after failing to hear an explosion or any sort of discharge. He grew curious and headed towards the Arch to take a look at the object. When he arrived the area was completely abandoned and upon inspecting the supposed weapon, he was surprised.
Part of his training in S.I.N was to identify the weapons of the different nations. However he was unable to identify this object, of course it was possible it was a weapon that he was unaware of, however he did not believe this hypothesis, for a few different reasons such as:
'If they wanted to cause destruction why are they not activating the device? Maybe they are trying to target strategic locations? Or perhaps they are trying to instil terror?' He started to go through possible scenarios in his mind.
However his mind was interrupted by a strange sound, it would be best described as a sci-fi sound. It reminded him of the Star Trek teleporter sound. Lucus then stared at the object as there was no way he could escape the blast range, so he might as well watch what was about to happen.
However the sound soon subsided and was replaced by a low humming noise and the space inside of the arch was now acting strangely, there was a substance that had replaced the inside of the arch. It looked like a sheet of cellophane had been stretched across the inside of the arch.
Lucus then approached the strange substance intending to touch it however when he placed his hand on it his hand disappeared, however he was still able to feel it so he then made a choice what most people would consider to be an idiotic idea. He stepped into the strange substance.
He then found himself to be standing in the middle of a lush forest, with strange trees and plants. As he was looking around he then had text appear in his vision that said.
[Welcome to the Realms of Arcana]